Colonial Art Topography. C. R. Ashbee's Inventory of Arab Palestine, 1918–1922

• Applicant: Dr. Moya Tönnies
• Subject Area: Art History
• Term: since 2025
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 573076433

The aim of the project is to present the contribution of the British architect, conservator and designer C. R. Ashbee (1863-1942) to the preservation of building cultures, craft techniques and arts in Palestine during the period 1918-1922. As one of the most important protagonists of the Arts and Crafts movement, Ashbee was guided by the idea that he could preserve the local culture of Palestine with the methodology of his monument conservation program developed in England at the turn of the century and his experience as an art educator. Ashbee´s documentation is of particular importance for the art-historical study of Palestine, as the building cultures, arts and crafts of the 18th, 19th and early 20th centuries, which he documented in a particularly appreciative way, have so far hardly featured in art history. His complete written and graphic oeuvre concerning this country from the years 1918-1922 will be explored and made accessible to researchers in the form of an art topography organized by location. Exemplary contributions of his ideas and practices, including his founding of a Jerusalem art school and a museum collection, are analyzed in terms of whether and how the local population reacted to them and in what form resistance developed against his paternalism, which ultimately prevented a permanent implementation of his conservation concepts. The project provides fundamental academic research in the field of heritage conservation in the Middle East.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants